My Haircut and House

Since Michael shaved his head to raise money for childhood cancer research, I figured I could chop my hair short to donate to Locks of Love. I've never had my hair this short and really wasn't sure what to think about it. It's been over a month now, and some days it feels like an awkward length but other days I love it. I got a complimentary haircut at Ambrosia Salon but ended up tipping significantly since I felt I needed to give the receptionist a tip as well for carrying my screaming baby around during my hair styling.


My Locks-of-Love Haircut


Gabi definitely does NOT like my hair short. She used to talk about how Annabelle's hair was short like Daddy's and her hair was long like Mommy's. Her parents' new haircuts have completely turned her world upside down, and she no longer matches me. Poor girl! When I first came home, Gabi asked me, "What happened to your hair?" I told her that I got it cut short. Gabi's reply: "You didn't get it cut short. You cut it all OFF!" (throwing her hands up by her ears to illustrate).


Our new haircuts

I know what you really want to see are the girls, though. I don't have many pictures of them for you this time, so I'll make up for that with stories. As always, wiggle-worm Bella loves to twist and turn and stand and bounce. She is learning to pull up now, and she can get up on all fours but not actually crawl (yet). She is definitely mobile via rolling over, though.

Poor baby, in addition to teething, has had an ear infection since her six-month check-up. The ear infection is finally gone after her third round of antibiotics. She has been a very happy baby, considering, and she certainly smiles for us a lot. More bothersome to her is her eczema, which she scratches all over.


Annabelle also discovered the joy of feeding herself finger foods. Veggie Puffs (which Gabi calls "starfish") or Wagon Wheels are now a great entertainment for her. This allows me the luxury of having both arms free while fixing meals for the rest of the family. Annabelle likes finger foods so much that she is working on her "more" sign to ask for more!

As for regular baby food, Bella doesn't care for the grains or green vegetables, but she definitely enjoys the orange/yellow vegetables and the fruits. The trouble is only getting the food to her mouth without her grabbing the spoon out of my hand! Baby spoons are a great teether, apparently, though when they don't self-refill (if she's eating a food she likes), she gets frustrated. (Note that frustration does not make her agree to relinquish the spoon to me.) On the other hand, if I continue feeding her a food she doesn't want, then the spoon often ends up on the floor. Once she grabbed it out of my hand and threw it across the table and behind Gabi's chair opposite her.


Gabi loves to play with her little sister, and she is learning to share well. Here, Gabi is playing with the stacking cups, and she'll let Annabelle have one to keep her happy (although at the moment Bella is happy with her musical photo keys).

Gabi's intelligence shows in many of her comments. While we were cleaning the garage the other day, Gabi told me there were echoes in there. I asked where she learned the word "echo," and she told me that they were Pooh's echoes (in a Winnie the Pooh video they hear echoes at one point) -- and Gabi's doesn't even watch TV much at all, so she can't have seen that show very often, and not recently, either. Gabi also kindly corrects me if I skip or replace any words when reading her a book.

These days, Gabi often tells me that I need to grow my hair long, and she doesn't understand why it can't just happen immediately. I told her that my hair would grow long after we moved to Little Rock. Gabi now wants to move to Little Rock ASAP. "After bedtime, when we wake up, what will it be time for? Will we move to Little Rock?" I told her that it would be a long time before we moved, and we would have to clean the house a lot between now and then. Gabi jumped up and ran to find her duster. She returned, duster in hand, squatted down on the floor to help clean, and then asked, "Are we going to clean in here or in there?" (pointing to the next room). I tried to explain that it would be a couple months before we moved. Gabi's brow furrowed. "I don't understand." So I tried to explain by telling her all the things that we would do here in Georgia before we moved -- she'll finish school, go to playgroup a bunch, visit the aquarium, have Uncle Stephen and Aunt Alicia visit, see Daddy's college friends, and play with her friends before we say goodbye. After I finished, Gabi paused before looking at me, and she slowing said, "I think that is just a lot of noise." That was hilarious. I got the point: Oh, silly Mommy, you talk too much. I need to print out pictures for the Look Who's Moving To a New Home album that her friend Joseph gave her.


Annabelle's side of the room

Speaking of moving, I will be sad to leave Atlanta. I love our location in Decatur. However, I know once we are settled, I will be glad to have family nearby. The Realtor caravan was this morning. Just in time, I finished painting the letters of Annabelle's name and hanging them on the wall in the girls' room. I think we finally have the house mostly in order. Someone once told me that your house never looks as good as it does the day you sell it.

Gabi came home from school yesterday and exclaimed, "There's a new name on my wall!" That was very exciting until she found out that Annabelle's name had replaced hers. Never fear, though. Gabi's name is still on the wall, I told her, and she went to find it. Happiness returns!






Gabi likes the ducky pictures on the wall in the hall bath

Our washing machine died, and my friend Marti volunteered to let us use their laundry room until we move. That was a fabulous deal until Bella got sick... and then I got sick... and then Gabi got sick... and Michael was working crazy hours, so I was at home throwing up in the kitchen while fixing a bottle for Bella and cleaning up vomit on the floor while one of the girls made another mess elsewhere and letting laundry pile up until the bathrooms smelled disgusting and one forgotten bucket of clothes actually molded. Well, a few trips to the laundromat later, and we decided to buy a new washing machine. Not exactly what we wanted to do two months before we move, but hey, it was less expensive that completely rebuilding the toilet (which we also had to do last week)...


Our new washing machine




The "office" also has a play space for Annabelle and her diaper changing table


Our master bedroom with organized dresser shelves


Our master bathroom (in the mirror's reflection, you can see the door to a walk-in linen closet)


The stairwell with a few select pictures




Our piano in the living room
(No, the couches are not in the same position in those two pictures
-- we like to rearrange furniture periodically.)

The girls cannot nap in the same room. Annabelle will fall asleep, but Gabi talks and sings, which wakes Annabelle up, and then the two girls laugh and giggle until Bella gets so tired that she just starts to cry, at which point Gabi starts tossing stuff in Bella's crib to make her happy. These items often include pillows, despite my repeated instructions against this. And neither girl gets a nap. At one point we started putting Annabelle for a nap in the playpen in our room and letting Gabi nap in her bed. Recently, Annabelle has been napping in her crib and Gabi has been resting on Bella's blanket downstairs in the dining area.


Merlin and Gabi taking a mid-day nap




The kitchen and sunny breakfast area

You can barely see our azaleas blooming outside the window. We transplanted a couple hostas three times, finally settling on directly outside the kitchen window. Initially, they looked as if they hadn't survived that last move, but with the recent rain, they have grown beautifully and are very healthy. (Yes, we're still in a drought.) So the backyard is looking good.

Anyone want a house in Georgia?